An Alternate Journey
by KingRPG
Summary: What if Julius and Ludger Kresnik were on board the S. S. Zenethra when the ship entered Rieze Maxia. Read how the story of ToX will be different now that Julius and Ludger are inside Rieze Maxia twenty years prior to the events of ToX as members of Exodus, working alongside Alvin and Gilland.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey guys! After a while, I'm finally bringing out a brand new story into the Xillia fanfic community. Of course in order for this story to work, I had to make some adjustments. In particular, Julius and Ludger's age. I believe Alvin's age in the story did not change from the original.  
In the original Xillia world, I believe Julius is eight years older than Ludger, being 28 in ToX2 while Ludger was 20. So in order for this story to work, I'm making Ludger, being only four years of difference now.  
So in this chapter, Julius is 8, Alvin 7 and Ludger 4. **

**Anyway that's all I have to say. Let me know what you guys think about the idea of this story and how you think the story will progress :)**

 **CHAPTER 1: A WAY OUT**

The S. S. Zenethra was docked on the Elympion harbor, preparing to set sail for a cruise around the seas of Elympios. The passengers hurried on board the cruise ship, dragging their suitcases behind them. On the deck, the ship's crew was busy for the departure, making sure all equipment was functioning.

Among the many passengers, one influential family of Elympios was on board as well to enjoy the cruise. The Svent family. The Svent family possessed a number of businesses in Elympios, research institutes and even power plants that supplied energy to the world. It was no exaggeration to claim that the Svent family was truly a powerful and influential family in Elympios.

"We're really on a cruise ship!" A seven-year old Alfred Vint Svent cried while trying to contain his excitement.

"Alfred, please behave yourself." Leticia reprimanded her son.

"Leticia, let the boy go." Gregory Vint Svent, the head of the Svent family, said to his wife, "He's just so full of energy. He needs to release all that pent up excitement."

Leticia sighed, "Dear, I think you're too soft on Alfred."

Gregory simply laughed it off, obviously guilty of his wife's accusations. The couple watched their son continue to run amok around the deck of the Zenethra, laughing at the top of his lungs. Honestly, both did not know Alfred could have so much energy in such a small body. Ah, the wonders of youth.

While Gregory and Leticia were busy watching their son, a boy approached Gregory. Gregory noticed the boy and turned to face him.

"Thank you for inviting me along for the cruise, sir." The boy said humbly.

Gregory waved it off, "Julius, how many times do I have to tell you to just call me Gregory?"

Julius, son of Bisley Bakur, laughed, "I'm sorry sir… I mean, Gregory. I'm just used to it."

Gregory looked at the eight-year old Julius with a smile, "Well its fine. And you don't have to thank me for inviting you. After all, I appreciate all the times you came to babysit little Alfred and his cousin Balan for us. So this is a reward for always helping us out."

"It's nothing much, really. I'm just happy to help."

Gregory did not approve of that, "Nonsense! Leticia and I are just so busy with work, so you really helped us a lot with watching over our son and his cousin. The least I could do is offer you to join us on our cruise."

Julius nodded gratefully, "Thank you."

Gregory smiled. He really appreciated the help that the young Julius provided. Even though he was the son of _the_ Bisley Bakur, the young lad did not let his father's reputation affect him. For the son of Spirius Corporation to babysit Alfred, Gregory had to do something in return and this cruise was it. He even used his connections to help convince Bisley to let him go.

Gregory was removed from his thoughts when he saw Alfred running back towards him and Leticia.

"Alfred, what's wrong?" Leticia asked with a worried tone. Apparently she already sensed something was wrong. A mother's instinct was scary.

Alfred pointed to his waist, "My tummy hurtssss!"

"That's why you shouldn't run around so much after eating!" Leticia chastised, "I told you, didn't I?"

Alfred groaned in pain, "I'm sorry… I won't do that again…"

Leticia sighed and held Alfred's arm, "Well come on. Let's go see the ship doctor. You're lucky Doctor Mathis is already on duty, so he can give you something for your cramps." Leticia sighed once more, "Really Alfred, I told you not to run after eating… you should have listened to me!"

Leticia walked with Alfred towards the medical bay where Doctor Mathis would be. Gregory and Julius watched the two walk away, with Alfred still complaining about his stomach pain.

Gregory chuckled softly, "Honestly… that boy can be quite a handful."

Julius silently agreed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Since most of the ship's crew was too busy with managing the passengers on the deck, Claudia Kresnik was able to sneak into the ship's cargo. And with her was her four-year old son, Ludger Kresnik. The only reason she snuck onboard this ship was because she got wind that some Spirius agents were looking for her. If they found out that she had a son, no doubt they would report this to Bisley. No, she would not have that. She did not want her son to be involved with the Kresnik's curse! She managed to hide Ludger's existence for four years and she was not going to let her effort go to waste now.

The cargo hall was filled with boxes of different sizes. Some were small, others large and one or two that occupied at least a few meters of space, probably a vehicle of some sorts. But what were inside these boxes meant little to Claudia. What was important was that with these many crates and boxes, they would help her remain hidden. If the Spirius agents tried searching the ship, she had many places to hide.

"Mommy… where are we going?" A confused four-year old Ludger asked Claudia.

Claudia kneels down, "Ludger… we're going to play a little game, okay? We're going to play hide-and-seek."

Ludger grew excited, "Hide-and-seek? Grandpa Marvin always plays that game with me!"

Marvin Kresnik was Claudia's father and helped to watch over Ludger and help hide Ludger's existence. And the routine of playing hide-and-seek with Ludger was an idiom to distract Ludger with this game while they hid from Spirius agents that were nearby. Now in this ship cargo, they had to play this hide-and-seek game again.

Claudia nodded, "That's right Ludger. We're going to play hide-and-seek. That's why, we have to stay hidden and be quiet, okay? Or else, they're going to find us."

Ludger nodded with enthusiasm, "Okay!"

With that, the young Ludger held onto his mother. Claudia wrapped her arms around Ludger and Ludger burrowed himself into his mother's shoulder, sniffing the enchanting smell of his mother's hair. And with the premise that this was a hide-and-seek game, the two stayed inside the cruise's cargo in silence.

To Claudia Kresnik, this ship cargo was her safe haven from the Spirius Agents. But once the ship returned to Elympios, it was back to hell.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Several hours have passed and the S.S. Zenethra was already in open water, several miles away from Elympios harbor. Since it was just the first day, not much activity was planned. That was all reserved for the following day. For now, the passengers were leisurely enjoying the many facilities that the ship possessed while others simply basked in the sun and strolled through the deck of the ship. With excellent weather, today was a good day.

The Svent family was on the deck as well, enjoying their time together. Julius excused himself earlier, saying he had things he wanted to do on his own. Even though he was only eight-years old, a year older than Alfred, he was way too matured for his age. Gregory wondered if that was because he was the son of one of the most powerful corporations in Elympios.

"Brother, I've been looking for you." A familiar voice was heard.

Gregory turned to face Gilland, his brother, "Gilland! I almost thought you didn't make it for the cruise."

Gilland ignored his brother's warm words, "You know this trip isn't all pleasure. We have business to discuss."

Gregory rolled his eyes but Gilland was right. While this was a holiday with his family, he still had to attend a few meetings with clients regarding a business deal. Fortunately, the clients were more than happy to move the meeting to this cruise trip.

"Alright, fine. I guess it's best to get it out of the way as soon as I can." Gregory said.

Gilland narrowed his eyes, displeased, "I sometimes wonder why you're the head of the Svent family."

"Because I'm the first-born." Gregory answered with a grin, "Now before we go into another debate, let's-"

But Gregory never completed his sentence. Suddenly just above the S. S. Zenethra, a flash of light pierced through the air, sending mild shockwaves and shaking the Elympion waters, causing the ship to shake wildly. Most of the passengers lost their balance, falling down and many of the women cried out with surprise.

Gilland slowly got back up on his feet, "What on earth was that?"

Gregory rushed towards Leticia and Alfred, "Are you two okay?"

Leticia nodded, "W-We're fine. What happened? What was that light?"

Gregory shook his head, "I don't know… but whatever it is, it's headed for… the schism, isn't it?"

The schism was the invisible barrier that separated the world of Elympios to another world, a world that many assumed to be legend. Whatever it was, everyone in Elympios knew about the schism and that it was forbidden for anyone to go near it. But now, that flash of light was headed in the direction of where the schism was located.

And then, an explosion.

The flash of light made contact with an invisible force in the distance, exploding with a powerful blast that threw the surrounding water high into the air before returning downwards like a natural giant fountain. For a few seconds, nothing happened. Only the sound of the violent waves splashing against the ship's body was heard.

After that, the ship started moving again but Gregory could sense something was off. It didn't feel like the ship was moving. No, it felt like something was _pulling_ it. And it was being pulled in the direction of where the flash of light was located.

Then, the ship's alarm started ringing.

The ship's intercom activated and the Captain of the ship spoke, "Everyone, this is your Captain speaking. This is an emergency and we require all passengers to make their way into the interior of the ship and hold on to something tightly. I repeat, we require _all_ passengers to make their way into the interior of the ship and hold on to something."

Gregory did not hesitate and quickly grabbed Leticia's arm and Alfred, pulling them to him and quickly ran for the entrance of the ship's interior. Other passengers also hurried, some on the verge of panic as they all rushed for the safety of the ship's interior.

Inside the ship's bridge, the captain was busy giving orders to his crew to diverge the ship's course but so far, nothing was working. Even at full power, they were still being pulled towards where the flash of light disappeared. Towards where the schism was located. And the force of the pull got stronger the closer they neared the schism, the more violent the ship started to shake. No doubt the passengers must be frightened at what was happening. The ship's captain didn't blame them. He was terrified as well.

"Captain, we've lost all controls! The ship isn't responding anymore!" One of the sailors cried out.

The Captain grew silent. He tipped his hat over his head and held tightly to his seat, "Everyone… brace for impact… or whatever that is going to happen."

In front of the S. S. Zenethra, a deep, gaping tunnel was before them and the ship was being pulled into the darkness of the abyss. And after that, the ship was no longer within the world of Elympios.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

In the world of Rieze Maxia, a harsh battle was raging between the army of Rashugal and Auj Oule. A twelve-year old Erston Outway was leading the Auj Oule's vanguard, charging the frontlines with vigor. Despite Auj Oule having the edge on this battle, Erston could not help but feel something was wrong. An ominous threat looming around them.

Just a few moments ago, Erston spoke to the King about this but the King refused to listen. Instead he ordered Erston to return to the battlefield and even though Erston still felt something was amiss, he obeyed the King. That was his role.

Suddenly, the sky above Fezebel Marsh cracked and a hole split open. The S. S. Zenethra was thrown through the opening and started falling downwards. Before long, the S. S. Zenethra crashed into the ocean and due to its size and weight, it created shockwaves that threw the ocean towards Fezebel Marsh with tremendous force. It created a giant Tsunami.

Before long, the tsunami reached the shores of Fezebel Marsh, washing away the armies of both Rashugal and Auj Oule like ants. Erston Outway managed to get away because he felt something was off from the beginning. Thus, the battle of Fezebel ended with no victor, due to the tsunami.

Unknown to the inhabitants of Rieze Maxia, the cause of the Tsunami was the arrival of citizens from Elympios. However this time… Julius and Ludger Kresnik… were among the passengers.

 **CHAPTER END**


	2. CHAPTER 2: THE GRAND STAGE

**A/N: Hey guys! I know it has been like, 8 months since I published this story. After that, I stopped because I wanted to focus everything on "A New Beginning". Well recently I started to replay ToX again and I jsut got the drive to write two stories again! So now that it's been almost a year since "A Different Path" ended, I feel it's time I start writing two stories again, at least while I have the hype from replaying Xillia and got ideas on how to progress this story.**  
 **Well enough with the rant, let's go on to responding to reviews (although I'm 8 months late .)**

 **Forgotten64: Well after 8 months, I'm finally going to be active on updating this story. I'm so sorry for the delay. I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long. So far, I have not much plans on how much I want to take this story and how good it will be, but I'll definitely be planning more**

 **flashyhero: Thanks mate! I hope this story will be another great adventure to write about!**

 **TheAnime4Fan: Well I wouldn't say that considering it took me 8 months before I've finalyl decided to update this story again XD but I'm definitely gonna regularly update this story now**  
 **-Well from this chapter, I'm doing a timeskip BUT there will be flashbacks later on from Julius's PoV to explain what happened during the past twenty years. This time I probably won't be bringing Fractured Milla into this story (or at least there are no plans on my part). I'm still making plans for this story but at least I'm now going to regularly update this story**

 **SonicProdigy55: Hehe, I hope to see you in this story as well :)**

 **Ruby Warrior Girl 730: Well I'm definitely going to portray them as such. Of course I understand that in the original ToX2, the reason why Julius cares for Ludger so much is because of certain events that is explained in the ToX2 official guidebook. I plan to do the same but since they're now in Rieze Maxia, I'll create one for them :)**  
 **-Long story short, yes they will be the same loving brothers**

 **Sorata Shioya: Don't worry, I read whta you meant as such. What-if scenarios are so much more interesting to write as well as read :3**  
 **-Yes this is the prime dimensio... OR IS IT?!**

 **randomkuma: I hope you'll enjoy how this story will go now that Julius and Ludger will be in this story (as Exodus agents though).**

 **Guest: As you can see from this chapter, there will be a timeskip :)**

 **Toastybread5: Thanks for your kind words. I hope I can do well with this story as well**  
 **-Yes I plan to explore how different I can take this story from ToX since Ludger and Julius will be involved. And I know I'm 8 months late in updating this story but yes, I now plan to update this story regularly. I'm back to writing 2 stories again :D**

 **Riku Uzumaki: Well I'm now updating this story. Maybe I'll see you soon**

 **Yami no Nokutan: Thanks for the help but you have to understand what I was trying to say. Canon, Julius is eight years older but for the sake of this story, I'm adjusting their age and making them just four years difference. So by the time this story takes place in ToX, Julius is 28 years old and Ludger 24 (Four years older than in the original game). And as for the Gaius issue, same rule apply as I'm trying to make their age fit without making their age gap too far.**  
 **-So yeah, I know the age is not canon but in order for them to fit into this story, I had to make adjustments xD But thanks for the help though**  
 **-Don't worry, no hate is warranted. I appreciate it actually :3**

 **Well that's it for responding to reviews. I know I'm late in updating this story but I hope you guys will enjoy this new chapter and don't worry, this story is now going to be regularly updated. Till next time!**

 **CHAPTER 2: THE GRAND STAGE**

The large ship cruised through the calm sea, pushing the waves aside while moving towards its destination. Travel by ship was common in the world of Rieze Maxia with ships making port at several seahavens, such as Fennmont, Lakutam, Aladhi, Leronde and Sapstrath. At the moment, this ship in particular was on its way to the capital of Rashugal: Fennmont seahaven.

When the sky around the ship grew dark, everyone on board the ship knew that they were approaching Fennmont already. This was because it meant that the ship had entered Fennmont's spirit clime, which was the night clime.

"Looks like we've entered Fennmont's night clime." Alfred Vint Svent, commonly known as Alvin, said to the man next to him.

"Right. We should arrive in ten minutes or so." Julius Will Kresnik said with a nod. He then nudged the younger male on his left, "Come on Ludger. We need to get ready."

"R-Right."

Twenty years have already passed since the Elympion ship, the S.S. Zenethra, entered the world of Rieze Maxia. Now Alvin, Julius and Ludger are agents of Exodus, an organization created by the surviving Elympions that were stranded in Rieze Maxia with the aim of returning home to Elympios. And at the moment, the three of them were given an assignment at Fennmont.

Julius looked at Alvin and Ludger, "Our assignment's a simple one. We just have to-"

"Check on the Lance of Kresnik, I know." Alvin interrupted and sighed, "I don't get why I'm even called for this. I'm a "mercenary". I work better acting on my own than being tied down to an assignment."

"Hey, it's been a while since the three of us got to work together." Ludger pointed out, "And our assignment is to just check on the Lance. It's technically a free mission. After we're done, we can just do our own thing."

Julius chuckled, "Ludger's right. Come on Alfred, it's a good opportunity for us to spend some time together. Or do you not want to spend time with your old babysitter? Eh, little Alfie Cries-a-Lot?"

Ludger had to hold back a laugh while Alvin had a faint blush on his cheeks.

"I told you to call me Alvin. And I can't believe you still bring that old name up." Alvin exclaimed before his shoulders slumped, "Well complaining isn't going to help. And I guess you're right. It's been a while since we've actually worked together."

The three shared a brief laugh and waited for the ship to make port at Fennmont's seahaven.

Julius felt a strong breeze blowing against him and fixed his attire, which was quite similar to Alvin's. Instead of a brown jacket, Julius sported a white trench coat and unlike Alvin, he didn't have a muffler around his neck. And unlike Alvin and the rest of Exodus, Julius's weapon of choice was a pair of dual blades that he was proficient with.

As for Ludger, his attire comprised of a dark blue plaid shirt with a pair of white shoulder straps. Accompanying his shirt was a black jacket similar in design to Alvin's. In a way, both Julius and Ludger's outfit looked similar to Alvin's but with differences either in color or type of coat. However just like his brother, Ludger was also a member of Exodus that chose dual blades as his weapons.

* * *

 **Skit: A Moment Together  
Present: Ludger, Julius & Alvin**

 **Ludger: Spending time together like this sure brings back memories.**

 **Alvin: You mean times of how your brother has to babysit the two of us? Right, those were fond memories.**

 **Ludger: Well, you're the one that caused trouble for him most of the time.**

 **Alvin: And what about you bothering your brother all the time when he's busy with Exodus?**

 **Ludger: It isn't as bad as you though.**

 **Alvin: That's not really -**

 **Julius: *Sigh* The both of you were bothersome. Now stop your reminiscing. We got a job to do.**

 **Ludger: R-Right! *Leaves***

 **Alvin: On it. *Leaves***

 **Julius: Seriously, those two are still acting like kids at their age. Do I have still have to watch over them?**

* * *

Once the ship finally has made port at Fennmont seahaven, the passengers were allowed to leave the ship. Ludger, Julius and Alvin followed and once they were off the ship, Julius rallied the trio to discuss their next move.

Julius cleared his throat, "The Lance of Kresnik should be at the Laforte Research center. Since the place is normally restricted from the public, we'll have to find another way in."

"Not like that'll be a problem for us." Alvin interjected.

Julius nodded, "Right. So let's not waste time and get to the Laforte Research center. It's an easy and quick assignment."

Ludger however had other ideas, "Actually… it's my first time here in Fennmont. I was hoping if I could explore around a little bit before we check on the Lance."

"Checking on the Lance isn't going to take a lot of time. After we're done, we can check out the city. I can even show you around, since you know, I've been here before." Alvin pointed out. But since he wasn't going to make the final call, he gave a slight shrug, "Well your brother will make the call anyway. Julius, what do you think?"

Julius folded his arms across his chest and considered Ludger's proposition. In the end, he saw there was nothing wrong with what Ludger wanted and gave his brother the green light.

"Alright, you can go." Julius said, "Just don't forget that we still have a mission. Rendezvous with me and Alfred – I mean Alvin, later at the research center. Understood?"

Ludger nodded, "Yeah. Thanks Julius!"

With that, Ludger separated from Julius and Alvin. But before Ludger got too far, Julius called out, "Be careful and don't get into any trouble!"

Ludger just waved in response and jogged out of the seahaven. After that, Ludger was gone. Julius and Alvin started walking towards the Laforte Research center, exiting the seahaven.

When they entered Fennmont's central square, Alvin chuckled. This grabbed Julius's attention, turning towards the mercenary, "Hm? What's so funny?"

"Even now, you're still a worry-wart when it comes to Ludger. Don't you think you're being a little overprotective of him?" Alvin teased.

Julius laughed and looked embarrassed, "I can't help it. My little brother's the only family I have here in this world. He's precious to me."

"…I guess I sort of understand how you feel."

Julius knew Alvin meant his mother who was currently mentally ill, Leticia. Since the conversation had ended up at a rather sensitive topic, the pair didn't know what else to say and silence slowly ensued between them. The duo continued walking towards their destination.

Upon reaching the research district, Julius sprung upon a new topic to start conversation.

"By the way, I heard you and a few others recently infiltrated an Auj Oule research facility for a job. How'd it go?" Julius asked.

"Oh you heard about it?" Alvin remarked in surprise.

"I always do. So, what happened?"

Alvin casually rubbed the back of his neck, "Guess you can say I got half the job done."

Julius stared at Alvin and the mercenary knew the older Kresnik wanted a much more thorough explanation that that.

Alvin continued, "Apparently the research Auj Oule was doing was on booster technology. The job required us to steal booster data that Auj Oule was working on. Unfortunately we were found out and had to make a run for it. I actually managed to get my hands on a couple of second-gen booster prototypes but I couldn't get any third-gen prototypes."

"You didn't get the third-gen? That's unlike you." Julius stated.

"Nothing much I can do. I got some of the blueprints regarding the third-gen, but they don't mean anything. Rather than blueprints of boosters, they look like a kid's doll. The researchers must have been bored if they'd actually scribble toys than laying out the actual blueprint."

Julius could only laugh, "That's too bad."

After a few more minutes, the pair arrived at the Laforte Research center. There were two soldiers guarding the entrance so there was no way they could enter from there. As Julius suggested, they would have to infiltrate the research center, find the Lance of Kresnik and report back to Exodus regarding the status of the Lance.

"You ready to begin?" Alvin asked while stretching his arms.

Julius however did not answer as he was looking at an item in his hand. Alvin saw that it was a white pocket watch, an item that Julius always carried with him. It looks like he was checking the time.

"You still have that old thing with you? Why do you still keep it?" Alvin asked Julius.

"It's… an old family heirloom." Julius said and shut the lid of his pocket watch and placed it in one of his trench coat pockets. "Okay, let's get ready."

The two thus began their infiltration of the Laforte Research center. While they searched for an entry point, Alvin made one casual comment. "Now that I think about it, Ludger's got a pocket watch of his own too."

Julius made no response to that but anyone saw, they could see Julius's expression turned somber. He just hoped that his little brother never found out about

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I guess I should meet up with Julius and Alvin." Ludger said whilst checking his pocket watch. He had spent ten minutes exploring Fennmont's central square but he still had an assignment to accomplish.

Before Ludger closed his pocket watch, he stared at it for a while and remembered what Julius told him about the said item.

* * *

" _It belonged to your mother. It's the only thing we have of her, so I'm sure she'd want you to have it." A teenaged Julius said to the twelve-year old Ludger._

* * *

Ever since then, Ludger took special care of his pocket watch. Unfortunately for him, he lost all his memories of his mother when the S.S. Zenethra crashed into Rieze Maxia. So up to the present time, he never knew that his mother died when he was only four years old and that he was actually born with the pocket watch rather than inheriting it from his mother. Most importantly, he doesn't know the fact that his pocket watch is a tool to using the Chromatus powers.

With a sigh, Ludger shook his head to clear his head and placed his pocket watch in one of his pockets. Then without looking up, he turned towards the direction of the research district and took a step – only to crash into someone else.

"Oof!"

The stranger fell on his behind and Ludger quickly offered his hand. "Sorry! I didn't watch where I was going."

The stranger shook his head and accepted Ludger's help and was pulled back up. "N-No, it's my fault as well."

"No, it's my fault. I'm supposed to meet with my brother and a friend so I was in a hurry and-"

The stranger cut Ludger off, "N-No, don't blame yourself. I should have paid more attention and avoided you but-"

"It's still my fault though." Ludger said, interrupting the stranger.

"No, it's mine." The stranger insisted.

An awkward pause ensued between the two and a second later, the two laughed when they realized how foolish they were being. The fact that Ludger and the young man continuously tried to take the blame was just silly.

The young man offered his hand and introduced himself, "I'm Jude Mathis by the way."

Ludger shook Jude's hand with a smile, "Ludger Will Kresnik."

Jude's eyebrows rose up with interest, "Oh you share the same last name as the Genesis Sage."

"Y-Yeah. I get that a lot."

"Well it's nice to meet you Ludger, but I need to get to the Laforte Research center. Maybe we'll see each other again."

But before Jude could walk away, Ludger spoke up, "Actually I'm headed there as well."

"Oh. Then let's go together." Jude offered and Ludger gladly accepted.

Although this was the first time Jude and Ludger meeting each other, the two became very quick friends. This was most likely due to them sharing the same sort of personality. Both were just friendly to a fault and could be sometimes labeled as "do-gooders". Ludger and Jude soon learned that the two shared a lot of similar traits.

When the pair finally arrived at the main entrance of the Laforte Research center, they saw two soldiers guarding the entrance. Ludger expected it and followed Jude. If things went well, he won't have to infiltrate the research facility.

Once Jude and Ludger were close enough, the guard spoke, "Sorry. The lab is closed to the public at this hour."

"But I'm here to pick up Professor Haus." Jude answered, "He's from the Talim Medical School."

The second guard checked through a checklist, "Haus… Haus… Sorry, but he already left."

"Is that the sign-in sheet? May I take a look?" Jude asked politely.

The second guard saw no problems and handed the checklist to Jude. The young medical student searched for Professor Haus's name and when he found it, he took a piece of paper from his pocket. Unknown to the two guards and Ludger, the paper Jude had was his class-credit form, which contained Professor Haus's signature. When Jude compared the signature he had from his class-credit form and the signature on the sign-in sheet, he noticed the signatures didn't match.

"Huh… it's not the same." Jude whispered to himself.

"Satisfied?" The guard asked.

Jude handed the checklist back to the guard, "Couldn't I just dart in really quick just to make sure?"

The second guard shook his head, "Sorry. Rules are rules."

Ludger shrugged, "Can't be helped I guess."

Jude gave a nod of defeat, "Right."

Jude thanked the two guards and walked away. Ludger followed. Once they were out of earshot, Ludger asked the medical student, "What's wrong? It looks like you found something… odd."

"I did. The signature on the sign-in list doesn't match Professor Haus's. So why did they lie that Professor Haus already left?"

Ludger crossed his arms on his chest, "I see. So what are you going to do now?"

"I don't know. I think I-"

Jude didn't get to finish his sentence though. The lumen trees around them started flickering for a few seconds before they died out. That itself was a strange sight because the lumen tree lights were powered by the spirits so that meant there was something wrong with the spirits.

"What's going on?" Ludger wondered aloud.

"Something must be wrong with the spirits. I don't think-"

A strong gust of wind suddenly blew against Jude and Ludger, forcing the pair to brace against the wind. However Jude's hold on his class-credit form that contained Professor Haus's signature was blown from his fingertips. Jude's eyes followed the piece of paper until it landed on the calm waters below the walkway.

That was when the pair saw _her_.

On the peaceful water below the walkway, Ludger and Jude was a woman with golden, flowing hair walking on the water. Below her feet were bright, blue seals that allowed the woman to step on, thus keeping her above the water.

Ludger and Jude were both stunned and mesmerized by this woman.

"Who is she?" Ludger wondered aloud.

As for Jude, he was just speechless. But whoever the golden, haired beauty was, Jude immediately felt an attraction towards her. Unknown to Ludger, Jude and the golden, haired woman, the fate of these three were already intertwined.

This was their meeting. This was their beginning. This was the stage that would set them on a grand adventure together.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile in the Laforte Research center, Julius felt something cold pulling at his heart. He instantly stopped walking and clutched his chest.

"…What is this feeling?" Julius wondered. Unknown to him, this bad premonition he experienced was to signify a new path for Rieze Maxia.

 **CHAPTER END**

 **A/N: So yes, Chapter 2 immediately skips up to when ToX begins because while I want to explore what Ludger, Julius & Alvin did 20 years prior to ToX, I also want to start with something that readers will be familiar. So this story will actually have two parts to be told. One is at the present time and another will be through flashbacks based on Julius's view mostly, explaining what happened from when the S.S. Zenethra entered Rieze Maxia up to Chapter 2 of this story.  
And just in case readers thought I made an error, I am aware that the pocket watch is something Kresnik users are born with, so obviously Julius telling Ludger it was his mother's is a lie. Basically Julius is hiding the significance of the pocket watch from Ludger (the Chromatus powers etc etc).  
Also regarding Julius & Ludger's outfits (just in case my description isn't written well enough), it is actually mostly based on designs from the ToX2 Official guidebook on page 98. If you guys have the book or can find it on the internet, I'll gladly confirm to you what I have in mind on their appearance.  
Okay, that's all! See you guys in the next update :3**


	3. CHAPTER 3: THE JOURNEY BEGINS

**A/N: Hey guys, I bring to you all the new chapter of this story! I don't think there's anything much for me to say, so let's get on to responding to reviews!**

 **Riku Uzumaki: Yeah, she still died but they are different. In the original ToX2, she dies in the hands of Julius (by accident), in here, it will be uncovered later on.**  
 **-Oh wow, that will be a very emotional scenario to write about. If I ever use it, I'll give the credits to you for bringing it up**  
 **-And it's also nice to see you. Last I heard of you was on the last chapter of "A Different Path"**

 **Forgotten64: There definitely will be major differences. For now I'm still using a pretty similiar scenario as the original game just so that readers can familiarise with the settings before I start diverging things.  
-Definitely. The Chromatus and fractured dimensions will play a role in this story but for now, they are just going to be mentioned here and there in the beginning. **

**Project Yota-Hachi: AH yes, it's me. I try to find a cover picture that fits the story, so yeah xD**  
 **-In a way, it is almost the same as "A New Beginning", just that in that story, Ludger is aware of the future, has access to Chromatus artes and a good guy. In this story, he and Julius are members of Exodus and the Kresnik siblings are involved in the ToX events _without_ knowing about the future. **  
**-Well I don't know about the twists and turns. Unlike "A New Beginning" where I've got plans ahead of chapters, I'm still rather writing this on the spot. Time will tell how this story will go**

 **Guest: I hope it will be a great story!**

 **randomkuma: Yeah, sorry for the late delays in the chapter but I'll be updating this story regularly now.  
-Well that will depends on how the story goes and how I think the characters will do. There's no guarantees ;)**  
 **-Don't worry. In later chapters, I will reveal what Julius, Ludger and Alvin did 20 years ago and events that occurred then up to the present time. You'll just have to be patient till then**

 **Well that's it for responding to reviews. I hope you guys will enjoy this new chapter and do let me know your thoughts of the new chapter or how the story is coming along. Till next time!**

 **CHAPTER 3: THE JOURNEY BEGINS**

Jude and Ludger watched the woman with the flowing golden hair walk across the water on the blue crystal-like platforms. While both continued to stare at the unknown woman, Jude was awestruck by the woman's mysterious beauty. Unconsciously, he climbed down a fleet of stairs to try and get closer to the golden haired woman.

Ludger realized Jude was missing and saw he had walked down some stairs and was now on a platform just above the water. When Jude was just about to step on one of the crystal-like platforms on the water, Ludger grabbed Jude's shoulder, stopping him.

"Jude, what're you doing?"

"I…" Jude honestly didn't know but was frantically searching for an excuse. Then he spotted a piece of paper on one of the water crystal platform deeper in. "My class-credit form! I need to go get it. It has Professor Haus's signature on it."

Before Ludger could press for more, the sound of a small explosion distracted him. The pair looked to their left and saw it was the golden haired woman that caused it. She had destroyed the metal bars of the sewer drainage, creating an opening in the drainage tunnel.

Since Ludger was distracted for a second, Jude took this opportunity to pry free from Ludger's grasp and hopped on the next water crystal platform. He hopped to the next and the next until he finally landed on the platform that contained his class-credit form. He bent down and picked it up and stuffed the soggy piece of paper in his pocket. Then he looked at the back of the golden haired woman, who was unaware of Jude's presence. He was about to say something but lost his footing, causing him to almost trip into the cold water.

"Ah!" Jude yelped and landing on the next crystal platform. He almost fell into the cold water.

Because of this, the golden haired woman turned around and looked at Jude. The two continued to stare at each other, with Jude waiting for the woman to say something. When she did not, he decided to speak.

"Uh… hi." Jude started to say but the woman silenced him, her finger on her lips as a sign for Jude to not make any more noise.

Finally the woman spoke, "Just keep quiet, and I won't need to hurt you."

The woman then approached the opening of the drainage. Jude still wanted to speak with her though, "Wait! Why are you breaking into the lab? What are you-?"

Annoyed by the medical student's questions, the golden haired woman raised her left arm and did some gestures. Suddenly, an almost invisible blue figure manifested from the woman and flew around Jude. Before he knew it, he was surrounded in a bubble of water and completely trapped. He quickly held his breath but the sheer pressure of the water was choking him.

The woman spoke without even looking at Jude, "That's strange. What part of 'keep quiet' didn't you understand?"

The moment Ludger saw Jude was in danger, he leapt into action. He drew out a pair of dual blades and jumped from the platform he was on and flew towards the woman, thrusting both blades forward. The unknown woman was not aware of Ludger's presence until the very last moment, as if someone had alerted her of an enemy. Ludger felt a gush of wind around the woman, allowing her to move back in a split-second. He landed on the water platform directly in front of the woman and lunged forward to attack but before he could get any closer, it was too late: he was also suddenly trapped in a room of water.

"I am not an enemy. You humans are interrupting my mission." The woman said towards Ludger and then switched to Jude, "Now then, I hope this time you understand when I ask you to be quiet. Ready to hold your tongue now?"

Jude nodded fervently as he was running out of breath. He just wanted to get out of the situation he was in.

The woman then turned to Ludger, "And what about you? I am not your enemy, so am I to understand that you will not attack me?"

Ludger also found himself nodding.

Satisfied with their answer, the woman threw her arm downwards and sure enough, the pair was released from their water prison. Jude and Ludger were on all fours, completely drenched and both coughing or gasping for air. The woman watched the two for a bit, annoyed by the noise they were making.

"So much noise. Could the both of you try coughing quietly? What are you doing here anyway?" The woman asked.

Jude took a few seconds to get back to normal before he answered, "…I dropped something. I was just picking it up. See?"

Jude showed the soggy class-credit form in his hands. The woman looked at it but held little interest in that. She switched her focus to Ludger, "And you? Why did you attack me?"

Ludger blinked, "Um… because I saw you trapping Jude in a bubble of water? I thought you were gonna kill him."

The woman stared at the two for another few seconds and then turned around. She started assessing the entrance of the drainage and when she was satisfied, she climbed into the tunnel. Jude however was not done asking questions.

"W-What are you up to?" Jude asked, "The guards will be here any second. You can't stay here when they arrive."

"That's why I need to hurry, and the two of you need to go home before they arrest you for trespassing." The woman answered. With that, she went deeper into the sewage tunnel and disappeared.

Now that the woman was gone, Ludger and Jude were free to leave. But they did not. For one, Ludger needed to find a way into the Laforte research center anyway to meet up with Alvin and Julius, whereas Jude also still wanted to search for Professor Haus.

Jude turned to his friend, "What do we do now? Should we follow her?"

"I still need to get into the research center anyway, so following her might not be a bad idea." Ludger said and stood up, "What about you, Jude? You're still searching for your Professor right?"

"Y-Yeah."

"Then let's go."

Thus the pair followed the unknown woman's footsteps, breaking into the research center through the sewage tunnel.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile Julius Kresnik and Alvin were already at the main chamber where the Rashugal military kept their secret weapon: the Lance of Kresnik. Fortunately for the pair, there was no one inside so they were free to proceed with their mission, which was to check on the status of the Lance of Kresnik.

It was Julius that was mostly doing the work, inspecting the weapon and making sure everything was being developed as planned. Alvin on the other hand was just lingering around the main chamber, waiting for Julius to complete the check-up. He would prefer to leave Fennmont as soon as possible and take on other assignments – anything to avoid any encounter with his dreaded uncle.

After a minute passed, Alvin was bored and decided to try spark a conversation, "Hey Julius?"

"What?"

"Just wondering, but… does Ludger still feel the same about the whole thing?"

At first, Julius was confused by Alvin's question. But after a short while, he connected the dots and knew what the mercenary meant. It was the only thing that his little brother was against for some time and so far, he was not going to change his stance on the matter.

Julius sighed, "Yeah… He still hates being part of Exodus – said he doesn't like the way things are going. Only reason he's still here is because of us. If we leave, he'd leave as well."

"I don't get it though. I mean, I'm not too fond of our little circle as well, but why does he hate it so much?"

Julius thought about this before he answered, "He's grown attached to this world… this Rieze Maxia. He was only four when we entered this world, so I guess he never had many memories about Elympios, so the idea of trying to find a way back to our world just… well, he just doesn't agree with it. And the view that most of the Exodus members have on the people of this world doesn't help."

Alvin could understand how Ludger felt about that. Since the people of Exodus were basically all from Elympios with superior technology, they tend to see the spirit-user inhabitants of this world as inferior to them. Julius however never shared that view, stating that people always feared that which they do not understand.

Julius continued speaking, "But it doesn't matter what Ludger feels. Exodus is needed. It's our only way home to Elympios."

"…That's the whole point of Exodus. We all just want a way back home." Alvin said with a sigh, "But you know Julius, I never saw you a sentimental kind of guy."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm just saying, I didn't think you wanted to return to Elympios that badly." Alvin elaborated.

Julius didn't respond to that and the conversation ended there. Unknown to Alvin however, Julius did have a reason why he wanted – no, _needed_ to return home. He reached into the pocket of his trench coat and pulled out his white pocket watch, staring at the item in his hand.

"I've been here for twenty years. I need to get back to Elympios, to continue with Origin's Trial." Julius whispered to himself, "I can't do it while I'm here, not when I don't know the situation."

After that, Julius checked the time on his pocket watch and returned the item back into the deep pocket of his trench coat. He continued checking on the Lance for the next several minutes. When he was finally done, he signaled Alvin that their assignment was done.

"So we're done with the whole thing?" Alvin asked rhetorically.

Julius nodded and looked around, "Ludger still isn't here yet? Honestly, that brother of mine…"

Alvin chuckled, "So what now?"

"We should report to Gilland. He's the King's right-hand man at the moment, so we should be able to find him at Orda Palace."

At the mention of his uncle, Alvin lost the mood and ran a hand through his hair, "Yeah, about that… I'd prefer not to. How about you get Ludger to do it and…"

Suddenly Julius threw his arm forward and covered Alvin's mouth with the palm of his hand, silencing the mercenary. Alvin was about to resist when he saw Julius made a gesture to stay quiet. Trusting the older Kresnik's judgment, he calmed down. Once he was relaxed, Julius pulled his hand away.

"Quiet… I think I heard footsteps." Julius said softly to Alvin, "Someone's coming. We need to hide."

Alvin obeyed and followed Julius's lead. In a matter of seconds, the two agents of Exodus hid themselves, removing any evidence that they were ever here.

XXX

Meanwhile Jude, Ludger and the golden haired woman were just standing outside the doors of the main chamber that stored the Lance. A few minutes ago, Ludger and Jude were sneaking through the research center when they entered a room and much to Jude's horror, found Professor Haus before disappearing after having his mana absorbed. After that, they were attacked by a lunatic girl and although the pair managed to hold her, the sudden entrance of the golden haired woman distracted the crazed girl enough for Jude to land a fatal blow on the girl's head, knocking her out.

After that, the pair learned the name of the golden haired woman: Milla Maxwell. The first thing that Jude and Ludger noticed was that the woman possessed the same last name as the Lord of Spirits and without missing a beat, the woman claims to be that exact being. While Jude seemed to have bought the tale, Ludger was rather suspicious about that. Whatever the case, he still needed to rendezvous with Alvin and his brother.

So Milla agreed to allow Jude and Ludger to accompany her and discovered she was on a mission here to find the cause of spirits disappearing. And that was how the trio finally wound up where they currently were.

"…Behind this door? You're sure?" Milla was speaking to something beside her, which she claimed was the Great Spirits. She waited for a reply and then nodded, opening the door.

Milla, Jude and Ludger stepped into the main chamber and saw the large device in the center. While Jude was in awe of the foreign object, Ludger instantly identified it as the Lance of Kresnik. His eyes instantly moved to try and locate Alvin or his brother but there were no signs of either of them.

"What is that?" Jude asked in disbelief.

"A spyrix weapon." Milla answered, "I knew it."

Ludger was stunned that Milla identified the Lance as a spyrix. With an accurate claim like that, he was starting to wonder if the woman really was Maxwell.

While Jude and Milla approached the device, Ludger continued to search for any signs of Alvin or Julius. After all, the location of the Lance of Kresnik was their designated rendezvous point. But unknown to Ludger, Julius and Alvin had their eyes on the trio and wondered how Ludger got tangled up with the golden haired woman and the young male.

Jude approached the Lance and saw some information written on a computer screen. "…The _Lance of Kresnik_? That's the name of the sage from the Genesis Age!" Then Jude did a double-take, "Wait a minute. Ludger, you said your name is Ludger Kresnik, right? Are you somehow connected to this?"

Ludger instantly shook his head, rejecting the accusation, "N-No! I… I didn't even know this was here. I-I mean, it's just my name! It's got to be a coincidence!"

"R-Right…"

While Jude seems to have bought it and Milla pay too much attention to that, the four Great Spirits within Milla were stunned to hear that the human possessed the last name of Kresnik. For the past two thousand years, no human ever possessed the name of Kresnik, even amongst the villagers of Nia Khera, whom were all distant descendants of the Kresnik sage. Even more frightening to the Great Spirits was that Ludger possessed certain features that resembled Milla Kresnik!

Milla started a channeling circle, "Efreet, Undine, what's wrong? The two of you appear distracted."

" _A-Apologies, Lord Maxwell."_ Efreet spoke within Milla. The Great Spirits decided to pursue the subject at a later date. For now, they needed to destroy the spyrix weapon before them.

Jude noticed the channeling circle and stepped back, "W-What are you doing?"

Milla wasn't listening however as she focused all her attention on channeling her artes along with the Great Four. "Listen up! We must destroy that which harms man and spirits!"

At Milla's command, the Four Great Spirits finally revealed their physical forms and appeared next to Milla: Efreet, Undine, Gnome and finally Sylph, the four elemental Great Spirits.

Jude's eyes widened upon seeing the Great Four before him. "Those are the Four Great Spirits. So that really makes her Maxwell?"

Ludger was also shocked to see this and looked at Milla, "So… she's the real deal? _The_ Maxwell?"

Just to the side of the main chamber, Julius and Alvin were watching from their hiding spot and waited for an opening.

"Julius, what do we do? Looks like that chick's trying to destroy the Lance." Alvin remarked. He already had his gun and sword pulled out, ready to intervene.

Julius however told the mercenary to stand down, "If we act now, we'll be exposing ourselves. Just wait a little bit longer. If the guards don't stop her, only then we'll strike."

Milla was moving into the final stages of her arte and commanded the Great Four to get into position. Obeying Milla's command, the Great Four flew above the Lance and formed a circle around it, creating a larger channeling circle. This was it. In just a matter of seconds, the combined arte would obliterate the Lance.

Even though Ludger hated Exodus, he still could not allow the Lance to be destroyed now. Even if it meant exposing himself as an agent of Exodus, he had to do it. So he drew out his dual blades and was about to strike the vulnerable Milla.

But just before Ludger was about to strike, the crazed girl appeared. She started fiddling with some devices and seemed to have activated the Lance.

Jude spotted the girl, "You! What are you doing here?"

The girl looked at Jude and remembered the last thing before she blacked out was him delivering a fatal blow to her head. The thought infuriated her, "Just looking at you is really starting to make me angry!"

Fueled by nothing but her anger, the crazed girl started fiddling on the device and powering up the Lance. While Jude, Milla and Ludger were not aware of what she was doing, Julius and Alvin knew she was about to activate the Lance and quickly backed away to avoid the Lance's effective range.

The moment the Lance activated, it instantly started draining the mana of anyone around its proximity: which were Jude, Milla, Ludger and the insane girl. And because of the Lance, the Great Four's channeling circle was instantly disrupted, cancelling their arte.

Jude was instantly weakened, "Ugh! W-What the heck… is going on?"

Milla managed to take one step forward but it was with great effort. She addressed the girl, "You fool! Are you insane? Don't you know this is going to drain you too?!"

The girl instead laughed at Milla's words, "Y-Your suffering… makes it all… worth it!"

It was clear the girl was willing to die for this. Ludger fell on his knees and tried to figure out what he needed to do. Destroying the Lance was out of the question but he didn't know how to deactivate the Lance as well.

"This wasn't part of the plan." Milla said to herself, "But it's nothing I can't deal with!"

Milla started to slowly push herself forward towards the Lance, taking small steps. Jude and Ludger were actually surprised she managed to do so considering the amount of energy it required just for them to not collapse.

"Are you gonna try and stop it?" Jude questioned, "Do you even know _how_ to stop it?"

Milla ignored Jude and continued to push on. She had to hurry as she could feel her consciousness slowly fading away. When she was finally inches away from the device that could deactivate the Lance, a sharp cry was heard from above the Lance. Milla looked up and saw what caused it – the four Great Spirits were being absorbed into the Lance. Gnome and Sylph were already gone.

"Efreet! Undine!"

The Great Spirit of Fire and Water tried to resist but it was no use and they too were absorbed into the Lance. Milla cursed and hurried towards the Lance to deactivate. From the looks of it, she just needed to grab the odd object that was floating on the machine in front of her. Luckily for Milla, her troubles came to an end.

Julius, who was still watching the whole scene from the side, decided he could not let things continue or else his little brother's life would be in danger. Julius stood up and was about to act when Alvin stopped him.

"Julius! What do you think you're doing?" The mercenary demanded.

Julius gave a death glare at Alvin, "What do you think?! I'm going to save my brother!"

"And how do you plan to do that? If you get close, the Lance will affect you too!"

"I just need to disable the Lance!" Julius responded, "And I can disable it from here."

To show what he meant, Julius aimed at the core of the Lance and looked as if to toss his blades like a boomerang. If it hits, the Lance would be deactivated but it comes with a price, and Alvin knew the costs.

"You'll be damaging the Lance!" Alvin pointed out, "It will delay Exodus's plans!"

"My brother's life is more important than Exodus!" Julius spat, surprising the mercenary.

So Julius sprung into action: he looked at where the Lance's core was and threw both his dual blades, the weapons spinning through the air like a pair of boomerangs. Julius's dual blades destroyed the machine's core, which deactivated the Lance and stopped it from draining mana.

Now that the Lance was disabled, Julius quickly ran towards his brother to check on his condition. Ludger looked up and saw his brother and beside him was Alvin.

"S-Sorry I'm late…" Ludger said.

Julius sighed in relief. It appears that the Lance didn't harm Ludger and he was just weakened. He just needed to rest up and he would be back to normal.

"You okay, kid?" Alvin asked as he approached Jude, offering a helping hand. Jude accepted the help and the mercenary pulled him back up to his feet.

"Y-Yeah. Thanks for saving us." Jude said gratefully.

While Julius and Alvin checked on Ludger and Jude's condition, they weren't aware that Milla was okay and grabbed the object that was floating on the machine. She was sure that the item in her hand right now would have deactivated the Lance as well, acting some sort of Key to the machine. So before anyone saw her, she hid the Key of the Lance within her womanly assets.

Alvin shifted his focus to Milla, "Hey, you okay over there?"

"Yes. I appreciate your help." Milla replied with a nod. She eyed the Lance and wondered how she could free the Great Spirits. Without their help, there was no way she was going to be able to destroy the Lance.

Once Ludger was back up on his feet, Julius gave a disapproving look on his little brother, "Mind explaining why you dragged… 'Outsiders' into this?"

Ludger panicked, "W-Wait! I didn't! I was trying to find a way in when we saw Milla break into the research center, so I just decided…"

"You decided it'd be easier to follow a fellow intruder." Julius finished for Ludger. When that seemed to be the case, Julius shook his head, "Great… the situation's gotten more complicated."

It was definitely complicated for Julius, Alvin and Ludger. For one, there were now two unknown 'outsiders' that were aware of the Lance's existence. While eliminating them would have been protocol for the sake of Exodus, Julius was not the common cold-blooded Exodus agent. He would prefer to handle things without the need of bloodshed.

Alvin tapped Julius's shoulder, "Hate to say this, but I think things are going to get much more complicated."

Julius looked up and saw what Alvin meant. Due to all the noise that occurred within the main chambers, it had attracted the attention of the guards. Now in front of the group was a squadron of Rashugal soldiers.

"All of you! Don't move!" The soldiers barked out with their weapons pointed at them.

Julius, Ludger and Alvin raised their hands as a gesture for surrender. Of course they had no intention of surrendering just yet but they wanted to at least buy some time to assess the situation. Jude also followed their lead, raising his hands, which caught the attention of the squadron's leader.

"…Doctor? Doctor Jude? From the medical school?" The squadron leader's asked.

Jude recognized that voice. "H-Huh? Mr. Eldin? Is that you?"

The soldier's squad leader opened his mask and sure enough, it was Eldin, a patient Jude treated earlier. "I can't believe you're the intruders that broke in here. Jude Mathis, I don't want to hurt you but I'm authorized to use force if necessary to capture you all for intruding in a military facility."

Jude shook his head, "W-Wait, just hold on a minute! We may have broken in here, but there's something dark going on here. I saw Professor Haus disappear as well! We have to do something!"

Instead of an answer, all Jude got was the Rashugal soldiers arming themselves for battle. It was clear they did not buy any of Jude's story.

"I can't afford to be caught here." Milla said, "I need to free the Four and destroy the Lance."

Alvin took out his pistol and sword, "So Julius, Ludger, what's the plan?"

"Do we break our way out of here?" Ludger asked his older brother.

Julius assessed the situation. Originally, their mission was just to check on the status of the Lance, which they accomplished. However the golden haired woman named Milla apparently was here to destroy the Lance, and Julius felt that keeping an eye on her would be on Exodus's best interest. But to do that, it would mean he, Alvin and Ludger would have to assist her in her escape, which basically meant they'd be labeled as fellow criminals.

"Mr. Eldin! Please, listen to me!" Jude begged.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I have my orders." The man replied, thus sealing their fate.

With that decided, Julius came to a conclusion: their best interest right now, was to get out of here – with Milla.

"Our mission's compromised." Julius said towards Alvin and Ludger, "We're no doubt labeled as public enemy number one by now, so we need to escape from Fennmont. Get to the seahaven."

Ludger and Alvin nodded and without waiting for orders, both immediately sprung into action. Ludger dived forward and slashed the nearest soldiers on their legs, disabling them. The Rashugal soldiers were taken by surprise but quickly reacted, aiming Ludger. However before that could happen, Alvin appeared and swung his sword around in a circle, delivering small cuts to the chest to the soldiers around them. From there, the pair continued to carve a path for the party to escape and while doing this, none of the Rashugal soldiers received a fatal wound. Most of them were disabled by receiving injuries to their legs or arms, forcing them out of the fight.

Julius turned to Jude and Milla, "I still don't know your names, but we can get acquainted later. Right now, we need to escape!"

Milla nodded, "I can't let them capture me. As much as I hate to do this, but escaping is the best option. I'll return next time to free the Four."

Milla moved to run but she did not realize how much mana was drained by the Lance, tripping herself. Luckily for her, Jude quickly caught her in his arms. Or at least he tried to, since one of his hands ended up holding her around the chest, which looked like he was groping Milla's breast.

Jude quickly helped Milla up with a visible red blush on his cheeks, "A-A-Are you okay?"

"It appears the Lance drained my mana more than I realized." Milla stated plainly.

"…It's fine then. I'll… I'll help you get to the seahaven."

Milla appreciated the gesture and the two ran past Julius with Jude assisting Milla. Once the two was gone, Julius followed suit, covering their rear.

The group of five managed to exit the Laforte research center with no incident. From there, Julius led the way, hurrying towards the seahaven. Of course once the party reached the central square, the Rashugal soldiers were already alerted that the intruders of the Laforte research center had escaped and gave chase. At this point, the party had to keep running. If they stopped or slowed down, they would find themselves completely surrounded. Even if Julius had to resort to the Chromatus, he doubts it would be enough to take on the whole Rashugal army.

When the party arrived at the Fennmont seahaven, they saw a ship had just left the port.

"W-What do we do?" Jude asked with a worried tone, "The ship's already set sail."

"It's not over yet, kid." Alvin said to Jude, "We can still get on the ship if we hurry."

As if to emphasize that point, Alvin ran up a clutter of boxes before jumping on a nearby tower. From there, he ran at full speed before leaping off the tower and landing on the ship. Once he was onboard, Alvin turned towards the party still at the seahaven and gave a casual wave.

Milla was rather impressed and now understood the method, "Yes, I see. If that's what must be done, then…"

Without waiting for the others, Milla moved into a jog and followed the same steps as Alvin did. From there, she increased her speed and once she was on the edge of the tower, she jumped and landed on the ship. Julius followed next and only Ludger and Jude remained on the seahaven.

Jude looked at the ship and then back at the guards behind him. Although he was reluctant to do this, there was no choice. Just then, he saw Eldin has arrived and looked at Jude in the eyes.

"Think carefully about your next move, Doc. If you escape with them, it's just going to make it worse for you." Eldin said towards the young medical student.

Jude was hesitant at this, "I… I just wanted to…"

Before Eldin could try and plant more doubt into Jude's head, Ludger stepped in, "Jude, he's just trying to trick you. Whether or not you escape doesn't matter at this point, we're already labeled as fugitives by now. If you let them capture you now, you'd be facing execution!"

"E-Execution?!"

"Now come on! We need to go now before the ship gets too far!" Ludger exclaimed, turning around and running at full speed.

Jude took one last glance at the Rashugal soldiers before he turned around and followed Ludger. The two ran up the hassle of boxes before jumping on the tower. After that, the two turned into a full sprint ahead before jumping off the tower and landing on the ship, just barely making it as they almost plunged into the ocean.

The moment Ludger arrived on the ship, Alvin grabbed Ludger by the head, "Look at you, trying to play it close. You almost had me worried there."

"H-Hey! Let go!"

Alvin continued messing with Ludger, fumbling with the younger Kresnik's hair. For now, the three Exodus agents managed to escape from their little mess: a simple check-up mission had turned into a disaster.

Julius saw that the Rashugal soldiers did not give pursuit, "Looks like we're safe for now."

Jude timidly approached Julius, "Um… thank you for saving us, mister… um…"

"I'm Julius." The older Kresnik said, "The wild one over there is Alvin and you've already met my brother, Ludger."

"Thank you all for rescuing us." Jude said once again, as if to officially thank the trio.

Julius had a gentle smile on his face, "Don't worry about it. I'm sorry my brother got you into this mess. By the way, I never got your name."

"Oh, well, I'm Jude. Jude Mathis." Jude introduced himself and then gestured at the golden haired woman, "And this is Milla."

Milla approached the group and expressed her gratitude, "You have my gratitude for assisting me in the escape."

While Alvin and Ludger were not really unfazed by Milla, Julius felt tense. This was because now that he had a close look at her, he was wondering why she looked so familiar – and then suddenly, it hit him. He had _seen_ her before!

"It's her… the one with the golden hair…" Julius whispered to himself in realization.

It was around fifteen years ago when an Exodus facility was destroyed by the four Great Spirits. Julius remembered because he was at the scene, trying to save whatever he could. It was only a second but he caught a glimpse of the perpetrator: a young girl that looked to be around five years old with flowing golden hair, accompanied by four elemental spirits.

This woman, Milla Maxwell, was the girl that Julius saw fifteen years ago!

And to plant the final nail in the coffin, Milla then properly introduced herself, "…I am Milla Maxwell, the Lord of Spirits."

Julius now had no doubt – this golden haired woman, Milla Maxwell, was the same woman fifteen years ago. And if she was Maxwell, then she was Exodus's target.

 **CHAPTER END**


	4. CHAPTER 4: MEMORIES & DECISIONS

**A/N: Hey guys! I bring you guys the new chapter for the story. I know I'm really late in updating the story, but at least I am doing this story along with my other story xD  
Anyway time to respond to you awesome reviews!**

 **Riku Uzumaki: Well you'll find out what happened fifteen years ago here in this chapter. And yes, Julius didn't kill Ludger's mom and you'll find out what happened about to her in future chapters**  
 **-No, Chroamtus will work like how it did in the original game. The rules I created only works for "A Different Path".**

 **Ultimabuster92: Ah yes, romance. I hope I can work on that in this story as well. So far, I realize I tend to do some romantic moments early in the story and once the main plot is focused, I tend to forget about them bit by bit .  
-Well I hope to hear more from you in this story :D**

 **Forgotten64: Yeah, well, in the end the most important thing to Julius is his brother's safety.  
-Ah yes, I'm glad you know about it as well. I read about the background from the Tales of Translations timeline that they did, so I use that as a reference. **  
**-Well we shall see how much the story will diverge. Maybe nothing major, but if your memories of the game are fresh, you will see that certain parts in this chapter already have certain differences. And from these small differences can become major change later on.**

**Well that's it for responding to reviews. Not the most for the previous chapter, guess I need to work harder for this chapter! Anyway I hope you guys will enjoy this new chapter and do let me know your thoughts of the new chapter or how the story is coming along. Till next time!**

 **CHAPTER 4: MEMORIES & DECISIONS**

This all happened fifteen years ago. The Elympion survivors have been in Rieze Maxia for five years at the time and have established the group Exodus– a group that accepted that they were in another world and sole objective was to find a way back to Elympios. At this time, Exodus had numerous bases set up around Rieze Maxia.

Julius Kresnik was thirteen years old then and was currently in a small Exodus base, with the closest town being the port town of Leronde. While other Exodus bases around Rieze Maxia were a place for the Elympions to stay in, this particular Exodus base only held one purpose – spyrix research. Spyrix was their only chance of creating a way to return to Elympios so this base was dedicated for researching advanced spyrix technology.

At the moment, Julius was in one of the spyrix research rooms, particularly focused on communication spyrix devices. And he wasn't alone. Gilandor Yul Svent, commonly known as Gilland, was present as well.

"Why are you here?" Gilland asked with a rather hostile attitude towards Julius, "I can't concentrate if you're watching me like a hawk."

"I don't trust you enough to leave you alone. I want to see what you're actually planning on contacting them."

"How honest of you." Gilland remarked and returned his focus to the spyrix device in front of him.

By "contacting them", Julius meant the Elympion military. The spyrix device that Gilland was currently tweaking on was a communication spyrix device, and a few weeks ago, he managed to somehow establish a communication link with the Elympion military across the schism. It was only for a few seconds though and ever since then, Gilland has been tweaking and improving the spyrix device to increase the duration when communicating with the people outside the schism.

For a few minutes, Gilland continued working in silence but he was still annoyed by the stares that Julius was sending him. It infuriated him even more that Julius was only a thirteen year old brat.

Gilland stopped what he was doing and glared at Julius, "Don't you have something more important to do? Like taking care of your brother?"

"Little Alfie is watching him for me." Julius responded.

At the time, Alvin was twelve years old and was at an Exodus base somewhere in Auj Oule. Ludger was with him and was only nine years old. During this time, Alvin still wasn't a part of Exodus as he joined the spy unit three years later at the age of fifteen.

Gilland grumbled something beneath his breath and returned to working on the spyrix device in his hands. After a few minutes, a sudden spark lighted up from the spyrix device and after a few seconds of silence, Julius and Gilland heard a voice coming from the spyrix device. It was a success. Gilland successfully established a link with the Elympion military.

Julius said nothing and simply listened to Gilland's conversation. At first, it was just an Elympion representative of the military asking for updates from Gilland's side but then, the topic changed. The Elympion representative then gave detailed instructions on how to create the very same spyrix weapon that tore a hole into the schism – dubbed as the Lance of Kresnik. This was the very moment when Gilland and the Elympion military created a joint operation: The Otherworld Reactor Plan.

After Gilland ended communication link with the Elympion military, Julius offered his input.

"Are you insane, Gilland?" Julius exclaimed, "How are you actually going to put this plan into action? First of all, we don't have the resources or manpower to actually construct a spyrix weapon of that magnitude."

Gilland growled, "You underestimate what I can do. I just need some time to establish a plan and I'll be able to put this operation into action."

"Even then, I don't agree with this plan. From the description of this spyrix weapon, it means we have to store a large amount of mana to power the weapon. And I have no doubts you'd actually use the people of this world as fuel for the Lance."

At this point, Gilland had enough of the young man's words, "I don't care what you say, brat! Don't forget who's in charge of everything here! Me! So I don't care what you think, the Otherworld Reactor Plan will go through!"

However Julius's patience had also reached its limit. In the blink of an eye, he suddenly appeared before Gilland and with just a right amount of force, pushed Gilland on the chest, toppling the man down to the ground. Gilland groaned in pain and when he opened his eyes, he was staring directly into Julius's blade – a pair of dual blades as a matter of fact.

"Yeah, I know you're in charge of Exodus." Julius said then placed his blade directly on Gilland's neck, "But you should also not forget what I'm capable of."

Gilland broke into a sweat and he was trembling in fear. It all happened so quick that the Exodus leader never had time to react. It was a testament to Julius's strength as a young agent of the Spirius Corporation. No doubt if Julius was still at Spirius, he would have become an elite agent in the future.

Once Julius noticed that Gilland had got the message, he stepped back and kept away his dual blades.

Although Gilland seemed to have surrendered, he still had one point to bring up, "Even if you disagree with the Otherworld Reactor Plan, it's the only way we have to create a way back home. Isn't that the reason why you agreed to be part of Exodus? I don't care what your reasons are, but I know you have a need to return to Elympios."

Julius was silent then. As much as he hated to admit it, Gilland was right. Although he was still young when he was in Elympios, he was already aware of Origin's Trial and the existence of fractured dimensions. He needed a way back to Elympios so that he could learn more of the Trial. That was his only reason for wanting to return to Elympios.

Julius looked away, "…Is the Lance of Kresnik the only way?"

Gilland nodded, knowing he had Julius in the palm of his hand now, "That's right. Without the Lance… without the Otherworld Reactor plan… we'll be stuck in this forsaken world forever."

Julius had a hard time accepting this but he didn't have much of a choice. The only way to return to Elympios was breaking the schism and they had two ways to do that - either by eliminating its creator, Maxwell, or destroying the schism itself. Since actually defeating Maxwell would be difficult, destroying the schism was much easier.

Before Julius could give his answer however, the base alarm suddenly started ringing. Gilland quickly picked up his walkie-talkie to contact the guard post.

"Hey, what's going on?" Gilland demanded over the walkie-talkie but only received mild static in return. "Someone, answer me! What's happening? Hello?"

Sounds of gunshots were heard around the base with screams for help were heard. Whatever was happening, there was no doubt that this small Exodus base was under attack. Julius took out his dual blades and prepared himself.

Julius sensed an immediate danger and quickly grabbed Gilland and jumped away from the door. The door suddenly erupted in flames, exploding from the sheer heat. Finally the pair saw their intruder – a monster wrapped in flames, and it wasn't alone. It was accompanied by three others: a woman-like figure in blue, a strange brown figure resting on what seemed like a ball and a boyish-looking figure in green.

" _No doubt about it. The use of spyrix originated from here."_ The creature wrapped in flames said.

While Gilland had no clue who these intruders were, Julius already connected the dots.

"They are the Great Four spirits." Julius said to himself and moved into a defensive stance, "But it's a Rieze Maxian belief that the Four always accompany Maxwell. So where is he?"

While Julius was figuring out a strategy, the Great Spirit of Water swung her arm to the left, which created a wave of water that knocked all the spyrix machines in the room to the ground, breaking them.

"No! Those are the prototypes we've been working on!" Gilland screamed in despair.

"You should be worrying about your life instead of that." Julius said.

Gilland looked at the four monsters in front of him and saw that they now had their gaze on him and Julius. Now that the spyrix device in this room had been taken care of, the Four were now aiming to eliminate their users.

"We need to get out of here!" Julius screamed and dived forward, surprising the Great Four.

The Great Four moved aside, allowing Julius to slip past them. They instantly gave chase, Efreet firing several fireballs at Julius but the young Kresnik managed to evade them all. Now sensing that Julius was not an easy opponent, the Four immediately gave chase, forgetting about Gilland. In a sense, Julius had used himself as bait and the Exodus leader slipped away.

Julius continued to outmaneuver the Great Four, evading their elemental artes while trying to find an escape. Also the Great Four were sometimes interrupted by Exodus soldiers, firing at them with their weapons but were quickly defeated. But Julius's luck came to an end when he reached a dead end. When he turned around, he saw the Great Four were there. He was cornered like a rat.

" _You are definitely no ordinary human, and for that, we commend you."_ Efreet said as respect to Julius, " _But this is the end for you. It is unfortunate that you are involved in spyrix."_

"So that's how you found us? Because we used spyrix?" Julius questioned.

" _Your use of spyrix harms spirits."_ Undine answered, " _We cannot allow you to continue."_

Julius searched for a means to escape but there was none – except for one small room to his left. The room contained spyrix machines that were highly unstable, some even explosive. If he timed it right, he might make it out of here alive but it was a big risk. However in his situation, a small glimmer of hope was better than none at all.

Julius dashed towards the small room and Efreet, thinking that Julius was trying to make a run for it, created a small fireball and it into the small room. Julius managed to dodge the fireball but it hit one of the spyrix machines, instantly igniting it and exploding. This caused a chain reaction as several of the unstable spyrix devices started exploding.

" _Watch out!"_ Sylph cried out. The Great Four quickly shielded themselves with a barrier.

The exploding chain reaction in one small room spread to other areas around the base, blasting the walls and empty rooms to smithereens. Julius would have died but fortunately for him, he timed the explosions right. Just before Efreet's fireball ignited the spyrix machine, Julius had taken out his pocket watch and activated his level one Chromatus form, using the Chromatus armor around his arms to shield himself.

The Exodus base was now engulfed in flames.

XXX

While the Great Four spirits assaulted the Exodus base, a five year old Milla Maxwell was nearby playing with two human children. The Great Four at the time felt that Milla was still not mature enough to understand what it meant to be Maxwell, so most of the time, they were the ones that dealt with the spyrix users.

What Milla didn't know at the time was that the two children she was with were actually Jude and Leia from the port town of Leronde. They were only around one or two years old at the time. Baby Jude had given Milla a glass bead as a present even, which Milla accepted. It would be as a proof of the first human friends she made.

However Milla's joy of playing with humans came to an end when the Exodus base that the Four were attacking exploded in flames. Because Milla and the two children were playing close to the vicinity, they were in danger of the exploding debris and rubble that were coming at them.

Milla didn't know what she did but desperate to protect the young humans with her, a burst of mana was released from her. This desperate need for help allowed her to instinctively summon the Great Four to her side and when the Four noticed the danger they were in, they created another barrier around them.

While the Great Four shielded Milla and the two human children, this was the very moment when Milla finally grasped the meaning of Maxwell.

"I am Maxwell, the Lord of Spirits." Milla said to herself and looked at the human children with her, "And it is my mission to protect humans and spirits alike."

After the dust settled, the Great Four dispelled the barrier and watched Milla care for the two crying children. She whispered comforting words to the two children and while children at that age would continue sobbing, the two calmed down. Milla just had this aura on her that relaxed even babies. She then headed in the direction of Leronde, to return the children safely.

Unknown to Milla and the Great Four, just a few meters away from the destroyed Exodus base, an injured Julius had witnessed the whole thing. He saw a five year old girl with golden hair summon the Great Four to her side and command them to protect her.

"That… is Maxwell?" Julius whispered under his breath. After that, the effort to stay conscious was too great and he collapsed on the ground, darkness overwhelming him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"…I am Milla Maxwell, the Lord of Spirits." Milla announced to the group.

Julius's flashback ended and he was transported back to the present time. When Milla finally revealed her identity to the group, Alvin and Ludger had to hide their shocked reaction, which they did successfully. They knew who Maxwell was. The only one that knew more about Milla was Julius since he actually saw a glimpse of her fifteen years ago.

' _She's definitely the girl I saw fifteen years ago.'_ Julius thought, ' _But I don't understand. Is Maxwell supposed to look this young? She doesn't fit the image of what a Lord of Spirits should be.'_

Julius was contemplating whether he should act now and end Milla's life now when she was vulnerable as she did not have the Great Four with her. In the end, he chose not to act yet. If he was wrong, it would mean he murdered an innocent woman. And if Milla really was the Lord of Spirits, he could get additional information about the schism or whatever they did not know yet about Rieze Maxia.

Since Milla introduced herself as the Lord of Spirits, Alvin knew she was Exodus's target. He moved next to Julius and asked inconspicuously, "Julius, should we…?"

Julius gave a slight shake of his head, "No. We need to find out more about her. And I think we should let the higher-ups know about what we learned."

"Right."

Alvin looked at Ludger in the eyes and when Ludger made eye contact, the mercenary made a very small gesture to let Ludger know. Ludger picked it up and nodded in understanding – they would wait for further orders.

Just then, a sailor came up to the group, "Hey, you guys came aboard without a ticket. The captain wants to speak with you."

Jude panicked at that, "W-What should we do?"

"Let's see what the captain wants." Julius said and approached the sailor. As the most mature of the group, Julius was acting as the leader of the party. They followed the sailor to meet with the captain.

XXX

"…That captain needs to lay off a bit. Is he planning to grill us the entire voyage?" Alvin complained. The party was finally released from the captain's interrogation after Julius and Alvin managed to give a convincing tale about why they had to board the ship in a hurry.

"What do you expect? We don't have any sort of identification." Milla countered.

"Speak for yourselves. I, Julius and Ludger don't have any problems with that." Alvin stated and then folded his arms over his chest, "Anyway, none of that matter. Just tell me, what were you and the med student doing at the research center?"

It was Jude who answered first, "I… I was looking for my professor. I was supposed to notify him that he won the Howe prize."

Alvin whistled, "The Howe prize eh? Isn't that the highest award a scholar can get?"

Jude nodded, "Yeah. Last I saw him was at medical school, and he told me he had business at the research center. But the guards didn't let me in and when I cross-referenced the professor's signature with the one that guards had, I knew something was fishy. Ludger was with me then, and that's when we saw Milla breaking in."

Julius turned to the golden haired woman, "You broke into the research center? What were your intensions?"

Of course Julius already had a hunch of what Milla was doing there. Just like fifteen years ago, she was probably there to destroy the Lance of Kresnik. It was where he and Alvin found them after all.

"I was looking for a spyrix weapon with the Four. It was that large machine where you found us. It's called the Lance of Kresnik and it is my mission to destroy spyrix technology." Milla explained.

Jude turned to Milla, "Spyrix… what's that anyway? I don't think I've ever heard of spyrix before."

"You don't need to know about that."

While Jude tried to get Milla explain to him about spyrix, Julius, Alvin and Ludger were deadly silent. Although it was highly likely now that Milla really was Maxwell, they wondered how they should act. It was imperative that Milla not discover that they were Exodus agents. They were essentially enemies at this point. The Lance of Kresnik was the key to getting home to Elympios but Milla's mission was to destroy it. For the trio, they needed to tread carefully.

When it was obvious that Milla was not going to divulge information about spyrix, Jude gave up. He turned to Ludger instead, "Hey Ludger, can I ask you guys something?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"What did you need from the research center?" Jude asked, "I mean, when Milla broke in, you said you may as well follow her because there's something you need inside as well. So, what was it?"

Ludger was not expecting that and had not really prepared a legitimate reason. "O-Oh… well… you see, I… um…"

Alvin quickly stepped in, "We're mercenaries, kid. The three of us. A client asked us to retrieve some classified military documents from the research center. Julius and I managed to get in first and Ludger was supposed to rendezvous with us."

Julius was pleased with Alvin's quick-thinking, covering for Ludger's blunder.

Jude seemed to buy it but then was troubled by Alvin's answer, "Wait, you guys stole classified military documents?! Doesn't that mean you guys will be wanted by the Rashugal military?"

"Well, we've done this plenty of times, so it's fine." Alvin replied, "Besides that's just how it is when you're a mercenary. High risk, high reward, that kind of thing."

Jude was baffled by that but he accepted it. He never thought Ludger, Alvin and Julius were mercenaries because they didn't look the part. Still, what Alvin said was only half-true. He was a mercenary but Ludger and Julius weren't.

With that out of the way, Julius turned towards Milla, "So what are your plans now? You said your mission was to destroy the Lance, but that was a failure and now you're wanted by the Rashugal army."

Milla considered that and looked around her, "Where is this ship headed?"

"Most likely to the Aladhi seahaven. It's a port town of Auj Oule." Ludger answered.

"To Auj Oule?" Jude exclaimed, clearly upset, "Oh man… how did this happen? I can't believe we're heading to Auj Oule."

The moment Jude said that, the dark sky slowly disappeared and was replaced with a bright, blue sky. The ship had finally passed through Fennmont's spirit clime, indicating that they were far from Fennmont now.

Milla shifted her posture as she considered her next move, "At any rate, I cannot continue my mission without the Four's assistance. It is probably best that I return home to my village to try and summon them there again."

Alvin looked confused, "The Four? Not sure I follow."

Julius kept quiet but he knew Milla meant the Great Four Spirits. He had seen them before fifteen years ago but for now, it was best he acted like he didn't know. Jude helped explain to Alvin that Milla meant the Great Four Spirits.

Julius again turned to Milla, "So you plan to return to the village? You mind if we tag along for a bit? It's probably best we work together until we're sure we shook off the Rashugal military. They'll definitely come after us."

"I was actually going to request you to accompany me." Milla said, "Now that I have lost the Four, I am vulnerable, so I'd need some help. Also, I was hoping I could ask you to train me in using my sword. You seem well versed with your pair of blades."

Julius thought about that. However before he could say anything, Alvin intervened, "Hey now, we'd be _more_ than happy to be your escorts. And not trying to boast here, but I'm a pretty good teacher. I'd be glad to teach you."

"Really?" Jude remarked in delight. Milla was also glad to have a positive answer.

However Alvin was not finished, "Of course but it'll come with a fee. We're mercenaries after all, so if you pay up our fee, we'd be glad to offer you our services."

"P-Pay your fee?" Jude spluttered, "But I don't have any gald with me. I'm broke!"

"Same goes for me, I'm afraid." Milla added.

Alvin blinked and tried to figure out what to say, "Wait, seriously? Well, we take more than cash, you know. Don't you have any precious metals? Jewels? Rich relatives about to croak?" Jude shook his head and Milla also had nothing to offer. Alvin scratched his head, "There's gotta be something we can do to work this out. How about…"

"That's enough of your jokes, little Alfie." Julius scolded.

"Ugh, I thought I told you I hate the nicknames you give me." Alvin retorted.

Julius ignored Alvin and addressed Jude and Milla, "Don't worry about any payment. I'm the one who suggested we stick together, so we'll be doing this free of charge." Julius faced Milla, "As for teaching you the sword, Alvin and Ludger will help you with that."

"Wait, what?" Alvin said in shock.

Ludger sighed, "Seriously…?"

Jude chuckled at the sight. It was clear that despite Alvin and Ludger's protest, Julius was the leader of the trio. But from here on out, he was probably going to be the leader of this party.

XXXXXX

A few hours later, the ship finally arrived at the Aladhi seahaven and made port. After the sailors made sure everything was done, they allowed the passengers to safely leave the ship. Julius, Jude and the party moved along.

However the instant they set foot on the seahaven, Milla suddenly felt her knees buckle and collapsed on the cold ground. For reasons unknown to her, she felt weakened and could barely move. Also she could feel a terrible need coming from her stomach. The need almost felt primal.

Jude immediately noticed and was quickly at her side, "Hey! You okay?" When Milla did not respond, he quickly felt her forehead for a fever. "Hmm, no fever. How are you feeling?"

"What's wrong? Is she okay?" Ludger asked. Julius and Alvin were just behind him.

Jude shook his head, "I don't know. She just suddenly collapsed and…"

Suddenly a loud growl was heard and it was coming from Milla's stomach. Jude blinked and asked, "Um… have you been eating properly?"

"I've never eaten before." Milla answered plainly, "Sylph and Undine provided me the necessary sustenance to live in this human body."

Alvin shook his head, "She's lost me again."

"It's most likely that the spirits have been giving her the energy she needed." Julius said.

Jude nodded in agreement and looked down at the weakened Milla, "I guess this means you're going to have to nourish yourself the old-fashioned way."

Milla slowly got back up and had a smile on her face, "So this is what you call hunger. Fascinating. It's my first time experiencing it."

"So, shall we spend the night at the inn?" Alvin suggested, "I'm sure we can use the kitchen there."

Julius gave a pat on Ludger's back, "I guess this is where you come in. I'm looking forward to a delicious dinner, chef."

Ludger blushed at that. He was used to his brother's comments of course, but it was embarrassing when receiving praise of his cooking skills in front of Jude and Milla.

"Oh, is Ludger a good cook?" Jude asked.

Alvin smirked, "As far as we know, he's the best. It's the one thing that he has us beat, that's for sure."

"K-Knock it off and let's just go already." Ludger said and quickly walked towards the inn. The party followed.

While the party approached the inn, Milla's stomach growled once more but louder this time. Milla chuckled in amusement, "My stomach, it really is growling. Heh, and here I thought that was just a silly human expression."

Milla's stomach growled for the third time now as if to emphasize its point. Julius and Alvin were really starting to wonder if this was the Lord of Spirits.

Once inside the inn, the party received permission from the owner to use the kitchen. Ludger went ahead to prepare a meal for the party. Jude offered to help of course, but Ludger insisted he could handle everything on his own. Cooking was a hobby of his and one of the few times he could truly appreciate being alone.

After several minutes, Ludger was finished with his cooking and served the party dinner – mabo curry and tomato omelette.

* * *

 **Skit: Delicious!  
Present: Ludger, Jude, Milla, Alvin & Julius**

 **Jude: Oh wow, I can't believe how good this is.**

 **Milla: Indeed. It's delicious!**

 **Alvin: *Chuckle* Told you it was going to be good.**

 **Milla: Yes, I just never thought I'd enjoy ingesting calories with everyone. Humans really should cherish these simple pleasures.**

 **Julius: Ludger's really perfected his culinary skills. But here, if you think that's good, you should try his tomato omelette. That's where he truly shines. *Offers food to Milla***

 **Milla: *Eating* Mm, yes, this is good as well. But I still prefer his mabo curry.**

 **Julius: …What? You obviously don't know what you're saying. The tomato omelette is definitely better!**

 **Milla: I don't believe so. With the mabo curry, the uses of different spices are what make it so good. On the other hand, the tomato omelette is mainly overpowered by the rich juices of tomatoes. The taste is rather simple.**

 **Julius: And that's what makes it better!**

 **Milla: It appears we share a different view on our food.**

 **Alvin: *Sigh* Julius and his love of tomatoes. I can't believe he's picking a fight with her over that.**

 **Jude: Does this happen often?**

 **Ludger: If you only knew…**

* * *

XXXXXX

After a delicious dinner and a much heated debate between Julius and Milla, everyone retired to their room. Tomorrow they would plan how to get to Milla's village but after such an eventful day escaping from Fennmont, the party needed a much needed rest.

Halfway during the night, Alvin woke up and checked his surroundings. Milla, Jude and Ludger were fast asleep but one bed was empty – Julius. He was nowhere to be seen. Alvin quietly got up from his bed and exited the room, searching for Julius. He looked around the inn and could not find him and was about to just give up and return to bed, but then he heard a sound. It was like a musical tune, a tune he was quite familiar.

"That's Julius humming that tune of his." Alvin said to himself.

Alvin went out of the inn and followed the source of the music. Finally he found Julius by the harbor of the seahaven, sitting on the ground and feeling the night breeze blowing gently against his face.

Julius sensed Alvin's presence and spoke without looking at him, "How'd you find me?"

"The seahaven isn't that big, you know." Alvin pointed out, "And you're the only one I know who hums that song. What was it again? The proof of hymn?"

"It's the Hymn of Proof. It's an old family song." Julius answered.

Alvin didn't say anything more and the two shared a short moment of silence. But after a minute or so, Alvin finally asked, "So… what do we do?"

Julius understood that Alvin meant the situation they were in. He answered, "We'll follow her. If she's really Maxwell, we might be able to learn more of her. Weaknesses, strengths and maybe something about the schism. If she's not Maxwell, she's still trying to destroy the Lance so we can keep an eye on her. Either way, it's to our advantage that we follow her."

"Wait, you said _'if she's not Maxwell'_. What's that supposed to mean?"

Julius shook his head, "I don't know but… there's something about her that seems off. I can't put it into words exactly, but I feel she is something else. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but that's why I want to keep an eye on her."

"And what about the higher-ups?"

"I already sent a bird carrying a message explaining what we just found out. I'm sure Gilland will want to know that we may have made contact with Maxwell."

Alvin looked at the peaceful waves of the ocean, "Either way, it looks like we'll have to continue with our act of just being mercenaries?"

"That's the plan."

"…And if we receive orders to kill her?"

Julius thought of that and replied, "If we learn everything about her and she really is Maxwell, then I'll do what needs to be done."

"And you think your little brother will just let you do that?"

"…He'll understand. He doesn't have a choice." Julius said and got up, making his way to the inn. That ended their little conversation, "Come on. We should get back to sleep."

Julius meant what he said. Even if his precious brother tried to stop him, he would not waver in his mission. And because of this conviction, Julius was simply falling into the curse of the Kresnik family. For generations, Origin's Trial always pitted the Kresnik family against one another.

If Julius and Ludger fought, it would continue the cycle of the Kresnik curse: brother against brother.

 **CHAPTER END**

 **A/N: Just thought you guys would like to know that the Julius flashback was taken from the ToX official guidebook explaining what happened in the Xillia timeline. Obviously Julius wasn't involved so this is just my take on what happened in some detail with Julius involved. Just a heads up**


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